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EXT. Just before EVENING. At the edge of campus by PANTHER HOLLOW BRIDGE. GIRL is standing, her arms behind her back, waiting patiently. BOY runs up to her, frantic, with a backpack.

BOY

Hey, are you okay?

GIRL

(frantic)

Did you bring the stuff?

BOY

Yeah, it’s all here.

GIRL

(snapping out of it. Like a great weight has been lifted off her shoulders.)

Great!

GIRL walks away. BOY stands there confused for a second and then follows her.

TITLE

GIRL

Hiking boots. Nice.

BOY

Well your text was pretty specific. Where are we going?

GIRL

My mom once told me that the anticipation of something often spoils the actual experience.

BOY

You said this was urgent.

GIRL

It is! We’re losing daylight. I’d say we only have about an hour left. Did you bring a flashlight?

BOY

A flashlight? Your text didn’t say--

GIRL

No matter. I’m sure we’ll have it before it gets too dark.

BOY

Have what?

GIRL

When I was like 10 my grandpa gave us a trip to Disney and my mom told me about it like a month and a half before the trip. It was literally all I could think about, all I could talk about. For a month and a half. I had planned out to the T exactly what I was going to say to Cinderella when I met her. I would rehearse every single day in front of the mirror. When I got there, there was a line. I waited for an hour. When I finally got up to her, she was gorgeous, I gave her my spiel and she just smiled and told me to never stop dreaming. I don’t know what I was expecting her to say, but I was sad for a long while after that.

BOY

Okay? GIRL

And so, my mom was right. The anticipation of something often spoils the actual event. Relax, young grasshopper.

BOY

I hate when you call me that.

GIRL

So how’ve you been?

BOY

Fine, I guess. I should be studying for finals right now.

GIRL

You’re smart. You’ll do well even if you don’t study.

BOY

Stop.

GIRL

I’m just saying.

BOY

Listen, I don’t have much time. Where are we going?

They have arrived at the top of FLAGSTAFF HILL.

GIRL

(looking at her phone.)

Okay so judging by this GPS, we’re within 30 feet but you know how these things are and people sometimes move them and-

BOY

I can’t believe you. Geocaching? That’s what was so urgent?

GIRL

Hey, c’mon. We’ve spent enough time trying to find this thing, and this is our last chance so…

BOY

You said this was urgent.

GIRL

Well we’re already up here. Better start looking.

BOY

I don’t know what to say.

GIRL

(Playful)

Don’t say anything, look. This isn’t going to find itself you know.

BOY

Believe me, I know. It’s not here. It never was.

GIRL

Awh, don’t be a poor sport. It had to be here at one point. We’ll find it. It says someone found it just yesterday.

BOY

I’m leaving.

GIRL

Wait.

BOY

What?

GIRL

Can we talk?

BOY

About?

GIRL

Please?

They sit on a bench.

BOY

So what’s this really about?

GIRL

See how beautiful the campus looks. It looks so small from up here. Like all of our problems are just so miniscule. They don’t matter. And imagine how this must look from space, eh? Crazy. Each one of our problems like a tiny atom.

BOY

And?

GIRL

And atoms make up everything.

BOY

What do you mean?

GIRL

You look nice in this light by the way.

BOY

Get to the point, please.

GIRL

Things aren’t what I thought they’d be okay? I thought that being away from home, I would be able to start over and I wouldn’t be ‘that weird kid’ again. But it’s who I am, you know? Like I can’t just change that. People tell you that you can be anyone you want at college. Bullshit. Those problems at home will still be there when I get back. We have one week left and then that’s it. Freshman year is over. Just like that. All of our lives are down there and look how small they look from here. Like you could just put them in your pocket and save them for later. For when you’re more mature, wiser, smarter, and able to deal with them with a more level head.

BOY

But they’d still be there.

GIRL

Or you could lock them in a box and never look at them again, I don’t know. I’m not good with metaphors.

BOY

Who are you kidding? Summer is coming. Four months is a long time. People change. Feelings change.

GIRL

No! They don’t! I’m still the same person I was a few years ago. I thought that being up here, away from everything, things would be better. Things would go back to normal. Like they always were.

BOY

Normal?

GIRL

Just you and me up here. But obviously, they aren’t. I had so much I wanted to say to you, so much I had planned but it’s all just…

BOY

What do you want to happen? What’s your end game?

GIRL

I want to sit up here with you like this forever. I--

BOY

Things right now between you and I aren’t what you think they are.

GIRL

What do you mean?

BOY

You do this. You have this thought in your head how things are, but it’s so messed up. We haven’t been on the same page for months. Listen, I liked you. I very well may have loved you. But taking me up here like this is no way to solve the problems because they will always be there. We are just fundamentally different people.

GIRL

I’ve always had hope that things would get better and that’s what gets me every time. I want you to be my knight in shining armor but I see now that you aren’t and you never were. I can’t stop hoping.

BOY

Well you’re only hurting yourself.

GIRL

Why did you answer my text message? You hoped things would be better too didn’t you? And you see that they aren’t. I’m sorry.

BOY

I should get going now.

GIRL

Just 5 more minutes? We can just sit here. For these 5 minutes please just let things be the way they aren’t. Let’s just pretend. 5 minutes.

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